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Glendale police officers Frank J. Riemer (left) and Donald E. Grober help evacuate a woman from her home in the 6500 block of North Sunny Point Road in Glendale on March 30, 1960, after the area was flooded when the Milwaukee River overflowed its banks. Red Cross worker Paul Buell helped wade through with the resident's belongings. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Fred Tonne and Donald N. Emmerich/Milwaukee Journal

Stacks of newspapers, weighted by bricks, form a makeshift dam at the door of basement apartment in the 500 block of North 41st Street on March 29, 1960. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee Journal

Marooned in his automobile, a motorist patiently awaits rescue at North 44th Street near County Stadium on March 29, 1960. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Donald Emmerich/Milwaukee Journal

Lieutenant Frederick Meyer and Patrolman Gordon Peters of the Milwaukee Police Department bring a rowboat to help a truck driver whose semitrailer stalled in four and a half feet of water at South13th Street and West Layton Avenue on March 29, 1960. The truck was hauling a load of hogs. Fred Tonne/Milwaukee Journal

Nick Mollgaard of Wauwatosa cleans off his car as it stands in nearly a foot of water west of downtown Wauwatosa, where the Menomonee River had overflowed its banks. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee Journal

Canoe is still the best mode of transportation, as water from the Menomonee River still surrounded the Falk Corp. plant in the Menomonee River valley, 3001 W. Canal St., two days after a downpour and spring thaw pushed the river over its banks. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee Journal

Water up to seven feet deep covers most of the machinery in the Falk Corp. plants on March 30, 1960. About 25 boats and canoes were used to rescue about 75 night shift workers after the rain-swollen Menomonee River poured into the plant at 3001 W. Canal St. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Arthur M. Uhlmann/Milwaukee Journal

An arrow points to a car nearly completely submerged in floodwaters on West Capitol Drive near Highway KK in western Milwaukee County. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Sentinel. Ernest Anheuser/Milwaukee Sentinel

A skin diver sits in a submerged convertible in Wauwatosa on West Capitol Drive just west of Highway 100 on March 30, 1960. The diver had hitched a tow line to the vehicle and was waiting for it to be pulled out. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Daniel Nero/Associated Press

Baxter Street in downtown Waukesha is a stream of its own, thanks to the overflow from the flooded Fox River on March 30, 1960. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Harold W. Stanfield/Milwaukee Journal

Employees of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. store on South Barstow Street in downtown Waukesha make a sandbag barricade to protect the store from the overflowing Fox River on March 30, 1960. This photo was published in the Milwaukee Journal on March 31, 1960. Robert J. Higgins/Milwaukee Journal

Homes in the neighborhood around the 6500 block of North Sunny Point Road Glendale were evacuated after the Milwaukee River overflowed its banks on March 29 and 30, 1960. Authorities declared a "state of civil defense emergency" for the area on March 31, 1960. This photo was published in the April 1, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Clarence Schmidt/Milwaukee Journal

Crews using a Caterpillar tractor retrieve Glendale residents of North Sunny Point Road, overwhelmed by floodwaters from the Milwaukee River, on March 31, 1960. A state of civil emergency was declared for the area, triggering an evacuation. Glendale Fire Department Captains Bernard Goecks (left) and William Stampfl pointed the way from the shovel, while Glendale Patrolman Frank J. Reimer rode atop the cab and Ald. Dale Grober clung to the side. This photo was published in the April 1, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Fred Tonne/Milwaukee Journal

Flood waters of the Fox River surround seven horses at a barn on Barker Road near West Capitol Drive, in the town of Brookfield, on March 31, 1960. The animals stayed close to the barn where there was plenty of food and dry shelter. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. George Koshollek/Milwaukee Journal

The flooding in late March and early April 1960 wasn't limited to southeast Wisconsin. Here, boys paddle down a street in Fond du Lac on March 29, 1960, after the Fond Du Lac River overflowed its banks and flooded parts of the city. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Journal Sentinel files

Truck wheels churn water through water on a flooded Highway 38 at the Racine-Milwaukee County line. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Theodore Rozumalski/Milwaukee Journal

Used cars stored on a lot in the center of Waterford are surrounded by waters from the Fox River, which overflowed its banks in April 1960. This photo was published in the April 4, 1960, Milwaukee Journal. Robert J. Higgins/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Cleveland Ballroom, 2690 S. 12th Street, ends up with a real "rock 'n' roll" floor in its lower hall on April 2, 1960, the result of damage from the late March 1960 flood. The floor warped in spots as much as two feet, as ballroom owner George Brown demonstrates. Co-owner Max Sosnowki is at right. This photo was published in the April 3, 1960, Milwaukee Sentinel. Milwaukee Sentinel

Milwaukee hasn't had a lot of major spring floods in recent years. Summer is another subject (we're looking at you, 2010 and 1986).

But major summer floods are a big-storm thing, according to Rob Waschbusch, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton.

"In the summer, you get those big thunderstorms that can dump a whole lot of rain in a short period of time," he said.

In spring, it's the snow and ice melting — with a bit of unexpected weather thrown in — that's the culprit.

That was the cocktail that led to the flood of 1960.

Thanks to a snowier-than-usual February, the snow cover at the beginning of March was around 22 inches. Then March started with the coldest temperatures of the season — 9 below zero on March 1. The deep freeze on top of all that snow led to a layer of ice over frozen ground, and a number of ice jams on area rivers.

Then, after two months at or below freezing, temperatures at the end of the month started to climb. On March 27, the high in Milwaukee was 45; by midnight the next day, it was 51 — and climbed to 61 degrees on March 29.

With the warm front came rain — lots of rain. Milwaukee got more than 2½ inches of rain in a 24-hour period, a single-day record for the month at the time. The storm was punctuated by lots of lightning and hail, too.

Stacks of newspapers, weighted by bricks, form a makeshift dam at the door of basement apartment in the 500 block of North 41st Street on March 29, 1960. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal.(Photo: Milwaukee Journal)

While the temperatures and rain melted the snow, the rivers were still blocked by ice jams, sending water levels behind those jams higher. And higher.

"As the rain continued, authorities throughout the area were maintaining a wary watch over the worst trouble spots — the Milwaukee River in Ozaukee County, Glendale and River Hills, the Root River in southern Milwaukee County, the Menomonee River in Wauwatosa, the Kinnickinnic River on the south side and Lincoln Creek on the north side," the Milwaukee Sentinel reported on its front page March 30, 1960.

A skin diver sits in a submerged convertible in Wauwatosa on West Capitol Drive just west of Highway 100 on March 30, 1960. The diver had hitched a tow line to the vehicle and was waiting for it to be pulled out. This photo was published in the March 31, 1960, Milwaukee Journal.(Photo: Daniel Nero/Associated Press)

Of the area's main east-west thoroughfares — the interstate system wasn't here yet — only Highway 59 wasn't washed out. According to reports in the Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal, every river and creek in the Milwaukee area overflowed its banks.

In Ozaukee County, the Milwaukee River was over its banks, closing Highway 57 for 6½ miles between Saukville and Highway 64; the Sentinel reported that the Root River was over its banks in Greendale, Lincoln Creek was spilling over from North Teutonia Avenue to North Green Bay Road.

"The water was only two feet deep this morning; now it must be 15 to 20 feet" one woman who lived near Lincoln Creek told the Sentinel. "We've never seen it like this before."

At South 84th and West Walker streets, traffic jammed up when water rose "to the height of auto doors"; carps were reported trapped in (or under water) all over the south and west side.

In the Menomonee Valley, the overflowing river sent seven feet of water into the plant at Falk Corp., 3001 W. Canal St. Night-shift workers had to be rescued from the building by rowboat. A police boat picked up a trucker from the top of his semitrailer at West Layton Avenue and South 19th Street, where his rig was stalled in seven feet of water. On South 44th Street near County Stadium, 13 cars were stranded in about four feet of water — their occupants, too, rescued by rowboat.

Water up to seven feet deep covers most of the machinery in the Falk Corp. plants on March 30, 1960. About 25 boats and canoes were used to rescue about 75 night shift workers after the rain-swollen Menomonee River poured into the plant at 3001 W. Canal St. This photo was published in the March 30, 1960, Milwaukee Journal.(Photo: Arthur M. Uhlmann/Milwaukee Journal)

Mayor Frank Zeidler told The Milwaukee Journal on March 30 that it was the worst flooding the city had seen since 1919.

Flooding conditions worsened the next day, March 30, as the rain continued. Immediately north of the city, the Milwaukee River started spreading across whole neighborhoods from Glendale to Mequon; part of Glendale was evacuated under a "state of civil emergency."

By April 1, most of the waters had receded, but the blame game that followed did have a bright side: It led to the development of a watershed plan for the Milwaukee River basin — a plan that included recommendation of a deep tunnel to reduce pollution caused by sewer overflows during severe rainstorms.

The late March flood did have another silver lining, the Sentinel reported at the time: "Milwaukee's official snow cover — heaviest in history at several points during the long, record-shattering winter — was reduced to a trace."

Our Back Pages

About this feature

Our Back Pages is an occasional feature that dips into the Journal Sentinel archives, sharing photos and stories from the past that connect, reflect and sometimes contradict the Milwaukee we know today.

Special thanks and kudos go to senior multimedia designer Bill Schulz for finding many of the gems in the Journal Sentinel photo archives.